Fruits^ Vegetables and Ge7ieral hitefrsts, 33 



ported from California do not do well, partly on account of 

 there being no cold season to give the trees a rest, and partly 

 because of the long dry season, succeeded by heavy, drench- 

 ing rains. The trees grow in a sickly fashion for two or three 

 years, and then become subject to various diseases and die. 

 I have experimented with some five or six hundred trees of 

 the above mentioned species, including some of the more 

 prominent kinds, but uniformly with unsatisfactory results. 

 The apricot trees are subject to a disease of the roots, which 

 swell, and appear to be affected by some sort of fungus. The 

 more vigorous the tree, the more it is subject to this disease. 

 I now have under cultivation Bartlett and Seckel pears, and a 

 few specimens of other varieties. They appear to be doing 

 fairly well, and I judge they will be successful. Japanese per- 

 simmons also are doing quite well. 



''I have under cultivation about 15,000 grape vines, mostly 

 imported from California. These vines are doing well, in fact, 

 quite as well as in California. The thicker-skinned and dark- 

 fruited varieties appear to do the best, but as the fruit ripens 

 mostly in the rainy season, we cannot count on a crop as 

 surely as in California, for the hail storms and the periodical 

 rains injure the fruit, and produce rot; but I think the crop 

 will be as sure as the grape crop in New York, which is more 

 or less subject to storms. The varieties known as Isabella, 

 American, Concord, etc., do not do well in this country. 

 They grow in a feeble, disheartened manner, and so far my 

 own have produced no fruit. 



''American horticulturists need fear no competition from 

 American fruits grown in the central mesa of Mexico — that is 

 to sa}^ in the great plain from 4,000 to 6,000 feet above the 

 sea. But the competition that American horticulturists will 

 have to meet from this country is from the native fruits, which 

 grow in great perfection. I mean the sub-tropical fruits, such 

 as guavas, cherimoyas*, aguacatesf and sweet limes. These 

 are apparently subject to no special diseases, the trees grow 

 vigorously, and the fruit ripens to perfection. The fruit is 

 also better flavored than that grown on the coast, or in the 

 immediate neighborhood of the sea. 



"The one element that will prevent a rapid extension of 



*Anona Cherimolia. fPersea gratissima. 



